new video just coming into the ktvu newsroom of the moment a fireball erupted in san bruno. >> hundreds of san bruno residents returned home for the first time since thursday's disaster. what they have to say about the state of their neighborhood. the one thing that stands between sara shourd and her freedom. good afternoon, i'm

claudine wong. tori campbell has the day off. topping our news this noontime we're waiting the start of a pg&e press conference in san bruno for an update into the cause of that deadly san bruno explosion. we do have team coverage on several develop stories in san bruno now. what you're looking at is a live briefing inside that senior center are residents who lost their homes. ktvu's christian katharine is there but first we'll go to ktvu's craig devereaux. >> the investigation is moving outward from ground zero on glen wood drive. a pg&e news conference as you mentioned just about to get underway at a fire station in san bruno on el camino real. this morning very important work is being done this morning on glenview drive.

pg&e cut into three pieces of that ruptured gas line and put it on a truck. next stop is the ntsb headquarters in washington, d.c. this afternoon we've got something investigators might need too. it's a videotape of last thursday's deadly explosion. >> when i got here probably was half hour after the incident by the time i -- i still can feel the heat and the roar of the fire. >> reporter: the tape also shows the reaction of the people at the san bruno avenue and glenview road gas station. one man runs from his car at the pump. some people describe down the street towards the fire while a woman was a baby runs toward the camera. three pieces of the 28" gas line are heading to the ntsb in washington, d.c. investigators will try to determine if the gas line was broke or broken. >> take it to our lab and may include putting it under a electron micro cope. by look at the detail and

magnification that will help us asker contain whether it was a fatigue fracture related to the depressurizing. was it damage from -- where it struck it and caused damage we would be able to ascertain that. they will look at collateral damage to see if they can quantify in pounds per square inch the explosion. this recently released videotape could help them measure how far the fire flew and for how long. last thursday's gas pipe explosion killed four people and wounded dozens of others. a published report today says pg&e plan to replace a section of the same pipe in a separate location because the risk of failure was unacceptably high. and just finally just a few hundred feet away from the crater created by the explosion, pg&e crews were inspecting a gas line.

the work is being done to carry out an order from the california pu (c) public utilities commission to inspect every gas line. there are literally thousands of miles of them throughout the entire state of california. now right behind me inside the fire house on el camino real we're anticipating the start of a news conference this morning. pg&e was supposed to hand over documents earlier today. in addition they've been busy inspecting those thousands of miles of pipeline throughout the whole system. we're going to have more on this of course later on today on ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. you're going to hear from allie rasmus in a few seconds from now. reporting live, kraig debro, ktvu channel 2 news. people who noticed a natural gas odor in the neighborhood before the explosion are being asked to contact federal investigators. some residents have said they smelled gas in the days leading up to that blast. investigators would like to talk to those people,

especially those who called pg&e about the problem. they would also like to speak to anyone who noticed dead vegetation in the area of the ruptured pipeline which could indicate a gas leak while the investigation ramp ups, the victims devastated by the fire are left to move it. many residents were allowed back into the neighborhood yesterday and woke up for the first time in their own beds. ktvu's allie rasmus got a closer look as authorities let her close to the devastation site and she joins with us that part of the story. good afternoon, allie. >> reporter: good afternoon, there are small signs that some things and at least part of this street may be getting back to. we're on glenview about a block away from where this gas explosion originated. if you look at the homes the top part of the street you can see just about every home on this part of the block has one of those green tags it. that means an inspector has gone through and deemed the house safe to live in but as you go downhill closer to the

site of the explosion the tags change and the damage is far more visible. of the homes still standing, inspectors have red tagged 49 of them. that means those homes are no longer structurally sound or safe to live in. they were one of 293 families who's returned to the neighborhood for the first time after the explosion. when he came back, he was relieved to find a green tag on his door. >> it was nice we're happy to be back in our home. >> reporter: but says he is struck by the destruction and normalcy on his street. >> coming back home to be able to get back into the house yesterday. you close the door and then seems everything is back to normal and when you come out of the house and you see this thing, what has happened four days ago. >> reporter: now the family also returned to their home last night. this morning they threw out some of the food that had

spoiled in the refrigerator after four days in the home without power. bill polosio say it's will take a long time for his neighborhood and them to heal. >> just like when i come home. just like the street. it's like it's not the same street as we used to have quiet neighborhood and then when i come back i saw all of this. it looks so different. >> reporter: now there were 84 homeowners who were not allowed to return home last night because their property was either completely destroy railroad severely damaged in thee.s are the ones located closest to the explosion. we've been told that the plan is for those 84 families to be escorted back to the site, back to what is left of their homes sometime later on this afternoon. reporting live in san bruno, allie rasmus, ktvu channel 2 news. >> thanks, allie. well later today the county

coroner is expected to update the fatalities in last week's deadly san bruno fire. the official death toll stands at four and four others missing. a dozen were injured. two of those who died were a mother and her teenage daughter. 44-year-old jacqueline greeg and her daughter vanessa. 24-year-old jessica morales is also among the dead. she was with her boyfriend at his san bruno home at the time of the explosion. they say gomez was critically injured and three of the four people still missing are three generations of the same family. they are 16-year-old william bullis, his 50-year-old father the and his 82-year-old mother lavon bullis. in just about five minutes we'll talk about the complicated process pg&e is having in conducting statewide inspections of its natural gas lines, plus we're going to go

live back out to san bruno where residents who lost their homes in the explosion are being told -- we're also monitoring the start of that pg&e press conference that's expected to start any minute. our coverage also continues ktvu.com. you're going to find slide shows and links to more information about natural gas lines in your neighborhood. just click on the san bruno fire tab. well turning to other news lawyers for an american hiker being held in iran are appealing that nations demand for half a million dollars bail before it released her. sara shourd is one of three graduates that have been held in iran forier after they detained the hikers. shourd's attorney said they cannot afford the bail. so far there is no word on whether the iranians have responded to the appeal. an airliner carrying 51 people crashed this morning in eastern venezuela. the latest reports are there are at least 14 people who have

died and four more are missing. the twin engine turboprop plane belongs to the state airline and went down about six miles from the city of apertio ordaz helicopter at least 30 other people survived. they do not know the cause of the crash. well things are back to normal at the u.s. capitol building this noontime after police briefly evacuated the house chamber and the area immediately around it when a white powder was found on the chamber floor. the powder turned out to be harm let's. the house is out of session until tomorrow and only a few house pages were on the floor. others remained open during that brief evacuation. classes are underway at a san francisco grade school following gas scare. a propane leak was detected in the basement of the school. that delayed the start of the school day but the leak was repaired and classes resumed as

scheduled. no one was hurt. well, we are waiting the very latest from pg&e in a scheduled press conference that's supposed to start any minute and also ahead the challenges pg&e faces as it begins inspecting every natural gas line in the state. some san bruno residents des placed by the fire are just learning the fate 6 their homes. we'll have that story coming up. we still have some lingering clouds across parts of the bay area. we could have wet roadways across parts of the bay area.

for some victims of the san bruno fire there is no going back. their homes are either destroy railroad too damaged to be occupied. just a few hours ago a briefing got underway for the victims and ktvu's kristen kafton joins us with what they are doing. >> reporter: some are talking with insurance agencies in. they are tired, they're frustrated and those residents have a lot of questions. hundreds of residents made their way to the san bruno senior center, bill mulgooihan

is frustrated. his pregnant fiancee escaped with their children. >> i haven't heard one bit of information from the city. my brother in philadelphia actually sent me a picture of the house from the "new york times" online. that's how to we knew our house was standing. >> reporter: san bruno residents displaced by the fire came looking for answers. >> try to get inside to see our houses. how they are and it's three different colors i think. red, yellow and green. >> reporter: julio lacone said his house was rocked by the explosion and flames. she said he could feel his home lifting off the foundation. he ran outside and said he was burned by the intense heat. >> so the first thing that i do is get out from my house and when i climbed out the fire was on top of my head. that's why i got these little

burns but this one is second degree. >> reporter: today pg&e says they have no records of complaints in the area before the explosion and they're asking anyone who called in a report of smelling gas before the fire to contact them. >> we understand people have questions. we want to provide answers. so we'll provide those answers when the time comes. city and county officials just wrapped up a news conference a few minutes ago. congresswoman jackie spear was there. pg&e scheduled to hold that news conference with the latest details of their investigation. that scheduled to begin any minute. we'll bring that to you as soon as it becomes available. we're live in san bruno, christian kafton, ktvu channel 2 news. >> there are two briefings in san bruno later today. the national traffic safety board safety officials will hold a news conference at 5:00 this evening at the bayhill shopping enter? san bruno. and also a town hall meeting at

8:00 tonight at the church of the highlands monterrey drive in san bruno. members of the ntsb, the california pec and officials have the city of san bruno will also be there. pg&e is launching major pipeline inspection program and has been ordered to check every natural gas line in the state. but almost all those pipes are underground and as ktvu consumer editor tom vacar explains that does make inspections easier said than done. >> reporter: three years ago pg&e buried a 10,000 foot, 30- inch wide pipeline from its main natural gas storage area in the delta leaving to west contra costa county. the reason the old was in damage from an earthquake. the new pipe 100 feet underground will be there for decades. but as it and all of the others age they must be evaluated for corrosion, brittleness and stress failure from within and

without. the consequences of the failure, as we've seen, are devastating, but the fact we've had so many few pipeline failures suggests for the most part they keep it in control. >> as this county by county website shows many other pipes have been doing their jobs underground throughout the bay area. on it, you can punch in your address and see just how close or far you are from a major line. pg&e's forward-looking reports say that it's highest priority major pipelines needing replacement in the future included eight mile stretch that runs from livermore to sonol and another four miles long in fremont. cost to replace, about $50 million or about 3 cents per month on the average pg&e bill for the next 40 years. if you would like more information to know where the big pipes are buried around you simply go to our website, ktvu.com, go to the front page of the san bruno fire section.

the information will be right there. i'm consumer editor tom vacar, ktvu channel 2 news. >> we've been telling you about that pg&e press conference about to get underway. it's starting now and let's listen in. >> i want to first thank the fire department for hosting us and more importantly just remind you all that this is a working fire station. should the alarm sound, we are all permitted to stay where we are, but we're asked to stop and allow the fire department to do their important work and we'll reconvene when we get a signal to do so. want to thank everyone for being here today for an announcement from pg&e regarding our plans to further assist the community of san bruno. i'm joined today by peter d'arby, ceo and president of pg&e corporation and chris johns president of pacific gas and electric company. peter will start us off this afternoon and there will be an opportunity at the end for

questions. so i thank in advance for holding them. peter? >> thank you very much, beth and thank you all for being here today and i want thank the mayor for being here. i think he may have joined us at this point. i want to commend the mayor for the tremendous leadership he has shawn. we were just athletic an organizational meeting with him and the residents of the town of san bruno. our hats are off to them for the tremendous work they have done and the tremendous courage they have shown and our hearts are very much with the people of san bruno and we offer our deepest condolences to everyone in san bruno for how their lives have been touched by this tremendous tragedy. >> we know that at the very minimum the town is coping with the challenge that we have, but they're also tremendously challenged by the tragic loss that they have experienced of family, friends and neighbors.

i think none of us can fully comprehend what they're going through right now. what we can do and what i can share is the 20,000 men and women have the people of san bruno in their hearts, in their thoughts and in their prayers and we promise that pg&e will standby them. our company has been in this area for 100 years and we will continue to standby our commitment to support the people of san bruno. pg&e crews are here working on a door to door basis, standing ready to check the lights, check the gas and ensure a safe turn and of those services. this has been a tremendous disaster and we want the people here to know that we're doing everything we can so last night the board of our company made a decision to establish a very substantial relief fund and chris johns, the president of pacific gas and electric

company is now going to describe the nature of that fund, the amount and also the detail surrounding it. chris? >> i want to once again give my personal sympathies to all the folks -- and families that have been affected by this tragic event and to the citizens of san bruno. it's heart-wrenching to go and see the results of what has occurred there and it leaves with us a great resolve to make sure we fill our commitment to the people of san bruno to help them rebuild and recover from this disaster. a short while ago we met with the mayor and the residents to let them know that effective immediately pg&e is sething up a fund of up to $100 million to

help in the restoration of this town. the fund will be available to help citizens rebuild their lives and rebuild the city that they have so proudly lived in for so long. now the fund has a couple of different purposes and the funds will be used for a couple of different things. first, we understand that many people in the affected area have needs that are greatly above their temporary housing. and they have needs to make themselves be able to live day- to-day. and so part of this fund will be an immediate financial resource that will be available by the end of this week and it will be individual checks up to $50,000 each. per household. to help those folks take care

of things that they need just is today. this is above and beyond any reimbursement for temporary living or any of those kinds of items. it's to help them meet those day-to-day needs. now, with those funds, no strings attached. it's theirs to use in any way, shape or form they want. we will not be asking them and will not ask them to sign any releases when they accept that. it doesn't prohibit them from filing any other claims. it is just theirs to help them get through this part of this disaster. in addition to that, these funds will be used for some other things. the second bucket that it will be used for is that we know right now there's a lot of insurance providers that are out there that are working hard to help the citizens get reimbursement insurance claims filed but in many instances some folks don't have the opportunity they can't afford

necessarily to pay the deductible or the insurance might not be enough or maybe they don't have insurance. so this fund will be there to help provide for that, to help make them whole. and finally, the third part of this bucket is for the city isself. it's to help rebuild this town. it's for things like compensating for the fact that many people had to work many long hours over the the last several days to help the citizens on an emergency basis. and so some of these funds will be used to reimburse for that. it's helped rebuild the parks, rebuild the streets, rebuild the sidewalks. to help this community get back to being the beautiful community that it was before this disaster occurred. and that it is going to forward. in fact, this morning we already provided a check to the mayor for $3 million to help

reimburse some of the estimated costs that this town has occurred so far through this disaster. now ultimately we don't know if rebuilding all of this will ultimately use all of the funds that have been set aside but it is a very important that this community know that there are funds, enough funds to be able to rebuild their lives in this community. in closing, let me acknowledge a couple of important things. first of all, i realize money can't return lives. it can't heal scars. it can't replace memories. some of the things that have been lost you cannot put a value to. but there does come a time for healing and for rebuilding and

we are committed to helping that happen. we are committed to helping this town start the rebuilding process and start the healing process. we have many people that live and work in this area that are part of this community. we've been a part of this community for many, many years and we want to be a part of this community for many years to come and we will be here to do that. and so we've made this commitment to this town. we're pledged to see it through and you have our word that we will see it through and help this town rebuild and become that great community that it always has been. thank you for coming today and we would like to take just a 911 introduce our guests hee and then we'll take some questions. >> delighted to have with us mayor jim -- >> you've been listening into a press conference from pg&e as they announce the establishment of a fund three parts of that

fund, one part to give people, no questions asked checks up to $50,000, another part to help the people with their deductibles or people who might be uninsure and another part of that to help the city of san bruno rebuild parks, streets and their city as a result of this damage. we'll continue to follow that press conference and we'll have more throughout the day coming up on ktvu channel 2 news. right now we want to turn to meteorologist mark demyo who is taking a look at your forecast. >> quick update. we have lingering clouds across parts of the bay. partly sunny skies. lingering skies across the region. the clouds beginning to thin out in a few spot. the forecast for today is this into the afternoon hours. partly to mostly sunny skies. temperatures from around 60. warmest locations track to reach 79 degrees. this evening, patchy fog for the coast and bay. mid 50s to mid-60s.

today easily cooler than yesterday. san francisco only lower 60s. san jose around 70. morgan hill 78 degrees. a little bit of a bump and in the numbers for tuesday and wednesday. look what happens by friday. increase the clouds and slight chance of a few showers. we'll have more on that and an update later throughout day. >> that's going to do it for the ktvu channel 2 news at noon. our next newscast is ktvu channel 2 news at 5:00. have a great day, everyone.